Vancouver / Canada

The Pacific Coliseum will host, among other events, eight Olympic Short Track competitions; the Men’s and Ladies’ 1500m, 1000m and 500m as well as the Men’s 5000m Relay and the Ladies’ 3000m Relay with competition extending over five days, with at least one medaled event on each day.

The Olympic format focuses on single distances. In the Men’s and Ladies 500m and 1000m there are eight preliminary heats with four skaters in each. The first two athletes in each heat go through to the quarter-finals and semi-finals until only four skaters remain for the final. The third and fourth placed skaters from each semifinal (a total of four) race in the ‘B’ final which determines 5th to 8th place. In the Men’s and ladies’ 1500m, six preliminary heats determine which 18 skaters (three skaters from each heat) go on to compete in three semifinal races with six skaters. The first and second placed skaters from each semi-final (a total of six) will compete in the ‘A’ final, while the 3rd and 4th placed skaters from each race (a total of six) will be in the  ‘B’ final which determines 7-12 place. If last Olympics are anything to go by we can expect surprises and great skating in Vancouver. In 2006 Korean athletes scooped up six of the eight gold medals and took a phenomenal 10 medals in total. The remainder of the short track medals were shared among China, Canada, USA, Italy and Bulgaria.

This Olympics 23 Members earned entry spots, 19 in the ladies and men’s events respectively and we could well see some of the traditionally strong short track speed skating nations such as Korea, China, USA and Canada rivaled by emerging talent and veteran skaters from Italy, Czech Republic and Latvia among others. Noteworthy Harald Silovs (LAT) will compete in short and long track speed skating as the first skater in history.  He will start with skating both the men’s 5000m speed skating and the 1500m short track on the same day: Saturday Feb. 13. Several Koreans will also come under the pre-Olympic spotlight with World Champion Ho-Suk Lee in the field and looking strong on the longer distances and his compatriot on the 500m world record holder Si-Bak Sung. US skater Apolo Ohno is tied for the most medals won by any short track athlete in Olympic history and certainly to be watched. Canadian favorite, Charles Hamelin will be aiming for the the Olympic podium on home ice...The Relay will be exciting to watch, for men it is expected to be a battle among several strong teams including Canada and Korea, China and Italy. Among the ladies, Meng Wang from China is twice defending world champion in the 500 and 1000m and can also win a 1500m. Min-Jung Kim (KOR) will be a strong challenger. The Chinese have more great skaters and are favorites for the relay. Canada also has strong ladies with the experienced Tania Vicent (age 34) and Kalyna Roberge. Korea has won Gold at every Olympic Relay since 1994, but they have a fresh team and in last year’s World Championships they took silver behind China.

Schedule of medal events:Saturday, Feb. 13 – Men’s 1500m finals
Wednesday, Feb. 17 – Ladies’ 500m finals.
Saturday, Feb. 20 – Ladies’ 1500m and men’s 1000m finals.
Wednesday, Feb. 24 – Ladies’ 3000m Relay finals,
Friday, Feb. 26 – Men’s 500m, Ladies’ 1000m, Men’s 5000m Relay